1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print system in a network in which in response to a print request from a client, a server controls a print instruction and supplies and collects image data and transmits the collected images and print orders to an output apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
With recent rapid progress of computer performances, it becomes possible to refer to an image on a computer or edit it. With recent advancement on network techniques such as Internet prevailed to general societies, it is common to distribute image data via a network. There are services for printing image data on a network at a remote printer.
Under such environments, a great amount of digital data such as image data is kept at a plurality of computers. It is becoming important for network data supply how a great amount of data is kept efficiently and how flexibly an operation such as changing a data keeping location is performed.
According to the prior art, digital data such as an image file kept on a network is identified by using Uniform Resource Locator (hereinafter called URL) widely used by the Internet, and a data acquisition request is transmitted to the computer which keeps the data and is identified by a portion of URL. According to this prior art, a computer name and a keeping location name in URL are other names assigned to physical data keeping locations. If a user knows only URL, data can be acquired by issuing a data acquisition request to the computer which keeps the data, even if the data keeping location is changed.
However, the computer name and data keeping location name in URL cannot be changed. Therefore, if a physical data keeping location is to be changed, it is required to be changed under the condition that URL is not changed. Namely, if it is necessary to keep data which cannot be covered by the processing ability and data capacity of a computer to be identified by URL, it is difficult to change the data keeping location, URL memorized by users may be changed, or a processing efficiency of the computer may be lowered. There is therefore a possibility that usability of the system is lowered.
When an image is printed by using such a system, a client designates URL and acquires an image file from a data keeping location. In order to request for printing an image file edited at a client computer, the edited image file of a high print resolution is transferred from the client computer to a center server and to a remote printer. This increases a network load. At the same time, since the client and a print server or output shop having the remote printer are required to be connected to the network so as to transfer data of the high resolution image file, the access time to the network increases and the communications cost rises.
As a second print system, print images may be kept at a print server so that a print image can be output in response to an output instruction, without transferring the print image to the network. In this case, a data transfer amount of the network can be reduced considerably so that a network route cost can be lowered and a data output amount per unit time can be increased. With this second print system, however, it is difficult to print an image at an output apparatus which does not keep the print image, and each output apparatus is required to invest facilities such as a print image keeping apparatus.
Both the conventional print systems require a large amount of investment in terms of cost, when an already existing small DPE shop and the like participate in network print services.
A user operates upon a computer to acquire remote data via the network. With this method, the user connects the computer to the network and designates desired data to acquire the data from a remote computer connected to the network. Connection to the network may be realized by using a mobile communications equipment or the like thorough dial-up or other methods.
Such a connection method is positively performed at any desired time by a user to acquire data. However, an output apparatus such as a printer is always connected to the network.
When print data is received at a printer or print server via the Internet, it is possible to know the size of reception data in advance. However, even if a plurality of data sets are to be received, a data request is performed once. Therefore, it takes in some cases a long time to receive all the data. During this data reception, other tasks are stopped.
According to the prior arts described above, since print images are collectively kept at a center server, although a user can instruct a desired output apparatus to print an image, a running cost increases and a service quality is lowered because of a large data transfer amount. If print images are kept at output apparatuses, the output apparatus is fixed in accordance with print images so that the performance of easy-to-use is degraded. In addition, the output apparatuses are required to be always connected to the network and a connection method is limited. For example, a data output apparatus such as a printer is required to be always connected to the network, and it is impossible to connect the output apparatus itself by using a mobile communications equipment through dial-up connection.
If data is to be transmitted again because of disconnection of a network, a user is required to again instruct a transmission of each data. It is therefore difficult to transfer a large amount of print data at the same time.
When a user orders a print, a print order status cannot be referred to until the order is transmitted to a center server via the network and an actual print is output. Furthermore, if there is a simple order miss such as erroneous contents of the order, it is necessary to issue another correct order together with the erroneous order.
If a print server cannot process a print order received from a center server, from some reasons such as a management trouble, it is necessary for a print server (print shop) clerk to explain the reason to the user and postpone a delivery date or provide other countermeasures.
It is a first object of the present invention to provide an image collection and transfer apparatus wherein print image keeping locations are managed by a center server, and images are collected from image keeping locations having a low transfer cost and transferred to an output apparatus desired by a user, so that the cost can be minimized without lowering the user service contents such as selection of a desired output apparatus.
It is a second object of the present invention to freely and easily make a change in image data keeping locations and the like without lowering user convenience, by definitely assigning an identifier to a design or image data and managing and identifying each image data keeping location by using the identifier, and to flexibly select a data acquisition destination in accordance with a computer data processing ability, by assigning each identifier with a plurality of physical data files.
It is a third object of the present invention to allow an output apparatus to use dial-up connection so as to improve the degree of freedom of installation location of the output apparatus, and to allow stable use of the dial-up connection even under unstable network environments such as mobile communications, by transferring only the data still not transferred when the network connection is intercepted, without any user operation.
In order to solve the above problems, an image collection apparatus of this invention comprises: managing means for managing position information indicating a keeping location of image data; image collecting means for collecting image data designated by the print order in accordance with the print order and the position information managed by the managing means, when the print order is received from an external apparatus; and print instructing means for transmitting the image data collected by the image collecting means and a print request basing upon the print order to a print controller.
A print controller of this invention comprises: image managing means for managing position information indicating a keeping location of image data; editing means for acquiring image data designated by the print order from the keeping location in accordance with the print order and the position information managed by the managing means, and editing the acquired image data to generate print data in accordance with the print order, when the print order is received from an external apparatus; and output means for outputting the print data edited and generated by the editing means.
A storage medium of this invention stores a computer readable program which realizes the functions of the image collection apparatus or the print controller.